The God Who Knows Your Name
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Sing, O heavens! Be joyful, O earth! And break out in singing, O mountains! For the Lord has comforted His people, And will have mercy on His afflicted.
But Zion said, “The Lord has forsaken me, And my Lord has forgotten me.”
“Can a woman forget her nursing child, And not have compassion on the son of her womb? Surely they may forget, Yet I will not forget you.
See, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands; Your walls are continually before Me.
The God Who Knows Your Name
Walk with me through this text and see a people in crisis. They are exiled. They are in a strange time and in a strange land. They are a long way from the sanctuary, a long way from home.
In crisis, broken, beaten and in Babylonian bondage. They are a people in trouble and ...
There are poetic echoes of their plight and peril in that psalm:
By the rivers of Babylon, There we sat down, yea, we wept When we remembered Zion.
We hung our harps Upon the willows in the midst of it.
For there those who carried us away captive asked of us a song, And those who plundered us requested mirth, Saying, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!”
How shall we sing the Lord’s song In a foreign land?
Yet against the horrific backdrop of this crisis...
1. There is this cosmic call to worship
1. There is this cosmic call to worship
Sing, O heavens! Be joyful, O earth! And break out in singing, O mountains! For the Lord has comforted His people, And will have mercy on His afflicted.
A strange response to being in a strange land.
A strange response to being in a strange land.
But God says worship
God says worship even in a worrisome world.
God says worship even when, No especially when living in difficult times.
Faith always worships in a worrisome world.
People say:
“Why are they there on a Sunday morning continuing ....”
“Where is your God?”
Rising costs and inflation
Racism and violence
Wars and rumors of wars
We worship because:
To worship is to acknowledge that even when it’s not evident to us, our God is in charge.
God is in charge of the world globally.
And the same God who is in charge of the world globally, is in charge of his people collectively
Not only is God in charge of the world globally...
Not only is God in charge of His people (Zion) collectively...
But, God is concerned about you personally.
See this brilliant flash of light
Piercing the darkness of our exile and our suffering.
“God has comforted His people”
The prophet speaks in the not yet as if it is already.
The people in this text began to cry out
But Zion said, “The Lord has forsaken me, And my Lord has forgotten me.”
I don’t know what to say about people who never have any questions for God.
If you never have any questions for God, you’ve never gone deep enough.
I wonder if there is anybody who would dare admit today that your going through a moment when....
Have you ever ask God, “What in the world are you doing?”
You can’t have an authentic relationship with anybody and not have any questions.
Don’t tell me about the patience of Job....
“Why don’t you show yourself”
“You are a God who hides yourself”
“Why don’t you show up so we can argue it out?”
“The harvest is past, The summer is ended, And we are not saved!”
For the hurt of the daughter of my people I am hurt. I am mourning; Astonishment has taken hold of me.
Is there no balm in Gilead, Is there no physician there? Why then is there no recovery For the health of the daughter of my people?
Jesus said, “Why hast thou forsaken me?”
But Zion said, “The Lord has forsaken me, And my Lord has forgotten me.”
It is an argument with God while still in relationship with God.
A blues song
Nobody knows the trouble I’ve seen.
Faith crys out, “Where is God?”
But then the answer comes back:
“Can a woman forget her nursing child, And not have compassion on the son of her womb? Surely they may forget, Yet I will not forget you.
It is unthinkable
It is contrary to nature
If her brain where to forget, her breasts would remember.
Yet the prophet acknowledges that sometimes the unthinkable happens....
Sometimes children are abused
Sometimes young people are stricken with cancer.
Sometimes we think that we have solved the problem and the problem re-emerges.
Sometimes Russia surrounds Ukraine....
Can the unthinkable unfold?
Can crisis come?
Yes it can....
But here this:
The New King James Version Chapter 49
Yet I will not forget you.
See, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands; Your walls are continually before Me.
Your name and your narrative, God says, are both in my hands!
The reason people will abuse you is that they really don’t know you.
It is a good thing to be known...
The Bible says that Adam knew his wife.
It’s a good thing for somebody to know you and understand you.
We mistreat people because we don’t know who they are.
Jesus said, “Father forgive them, for they do now know what they are doing”
They don’t know who they are doing this to.
God says, I have written the whole thing down. Don’t judge me by just one chapter.
Don’t reduce my life to just a chapter of my life.
Divorce is just a chapter
Sickness is just a chapter
Unemployment is just a chapter
Broken heart is just a chapter
Kicked to the curb is just a chapter
Your going through a tough time, but if you’ll keep on walking with God....
and keep on talking with God...
keep on praying and trusting God
Pretty soon you will turn the page and you’ll discover that your in a new chapter.
It doesn’t matter what the chapter looks like right now. Keep on walking
Maybe there’s somebody out there who has filed for chapter 8:
And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.
But as it is written: “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.”
Eventually you’ll be in another chapter.
Is there anybody here who is willing to walk with God, while He writes your story?
Tattoo’s at the alter:
You know they are in love because Joe’s name is written on her neck, but she’s not marring Joe!
She hasn’t seen Joe in 10 years.
She can’t even stand Joe.
But God is not a man that He would forget!
Jesus walked up Golgotha’s hill....
Revealed Himself to His disciples....
Look at my hands....